- Skills that have been removed from builds that were in Original:
1. Feather drop
2. Minor charm
3. Remove petrification
4. Tactical retreat
5. Acid breath
6. Boulder Dash
7. Magical Poison Arrow
8. Natures Curse
9. Summon Bloodswarm
10. Piercing Ice Shard
11. Restoration
12. Strong Regenerate
13. Draw Blood
14. Dust Devil
15. Eroding Strike
16. Lower Resistances
17. Nullify Resistances
18. Phoenix Dive
19. Terror
20. Lava Core
21. Charming Touch
22. Self-Medicate
23. Bloodletting
24. Burning Blaze

Divinity Original Sin (Original) had 139 Skills total

Divinity Original Sin (EE) has 128 Skills total

http://divinityoriginalsin.wiki.fextralife.com/Skills 

http://divinity.wikia.com/wiki/Skills_(Divinity:_Original_Sin) 

- They added skills that did not exist in the Original (I counted over a dozen, Expert Marksman and Scoundrel getting the most) and still removed enough skills so that there are 11 skills LESS than the original. (That means that there were easily 20+ skills removed...) How many "you personally used" is such a moot point it hurts; not to mention insulting... It would be like removing the White Mages from Final Fantasy I and coming into the argument swinging with "well... I never used the white mages so meh, play the new Final Fantasy I edition!" For more details on the exact changes visit the websites

-Removing of skills obviously made some builds obsolete, ie. any build that relied on said abilities. The "Leech Zombie" build for example no longer has bloodletting or the slew of helpful poison spells- at this point in time it is OBSOLETE!

-Talent that lowered AP of using Bow/Crossbow by 1AP has been removed

-Talent "Glass Cannon" has been nerf'd hard- be SURE you want it before taking! (best used on ranged champions if at all)

-Man-at-Arms talents have been nerf'd across the board, be sure to read them before taking them as they have changed from the original

- Stealth/dagger builds are worthless, sneak now has a flat massive AP cost for going into sneak regardless of level of sneak skill

- Bow now 100% > Xbows. Bow skill adds 50-55% extra damage (skill levels 5-6) while Xbow adds % crit chance and crit damage which don't affect EM skills or special arrows.

-Grenades (which are 100% new) and special arrows are very powerful early-mid game now but by mid-end game only a few are ever used ever again; learn how to craft them early on in the game or you will have lost out on the huge benefit they provide. 

-There are now even more "junk items" to flood you inventory with (such as a million "keys"), so inventory management is key more than ever. In the original the only unique backpack that you could pick up was "Evelyn's", all other backpacks were labeled the same and could not be changed ("backpack"), while in the EE you gain more unique labeled backpacks, ie. "Source Hunter Backpack". 

-MINOR SPOILER* at a point in the game you will find chests labeled “his chest” and “her chest”, and if you click on items in your inventory and click “send to homestead” they will go to these chests. These chests however are in a terribly awkward spot that you will find you never actually visit/ are out of the way- HOWEVER, you could click on said chests and “pick them up” in the original. This would allow you to place the chests ANYWHERE in the game! Putting them down beside a forge or by your dismissed companions would save you untold amounts of time. As of the last patch you cannot pick up this chests anymore- console players were "losing" the chests somewhere in the game and breaking the "send to homestead" so Larian decided to lock the chests down... This makes the chests 100% worthless again. Ignore the feature.

-No real changes to pickpocket, lock picking, crafting, blacksmithing, or loremaster (Etc) skills and thus are still a HUGE WASTE OF POINTS! DO NOT DO THIS! Use a crafting/blacksmithing mule and a pickpocket/lock picking mule.

- More than ever you will be wanting to keep backpacks full of +1 gear (blacksmith, pickpocket, etc) as their uses are even more limited than before

- MINOR SPOILER* Tenebrium is still worthless. Don't waste points in this skill.

-Walk in Shadows skill makes sneaking in the game obsolete (you can also steal anything in the game) and when used with the NEW SKILL Hoverfeet (also called "Winged Feet") also makes 85% of all the puzzles in the game obsolete. 

- Enemies will now summon elementals that will teleport your champions onto lava at will. Be sure to pick up "destroy summon" to counter this new annoying addition to EE.

-Two handed warriors are now better early-mid game, but the NEW dual wielding fighters’ are better mid-end game. (6 AP to attack for dual early game vs 4 for two handed, end game 3 AP to attack for dual 4 for two handed) Two handed fighters are not nearly as powerful end game as they once were.

-Wands (NEW) and Staffs are useless, magic dealing weapons, that only have two real purposes; (minor spoilers*) 1. Ice wands/Staffs dealing with the "burning legion" early on in the game and 2. Master level spells that you MIGHT get on wands that MIGHT help you with the first real boss of the game. Other than that, use scrolls and forget about staffs/wands in the EE. 

-Daggers are now a hard sell, they don't deal enough damage even with backstab, everything takes reduced damage from piercing, and they require too much AP/work to get yourself behind the enemy in the early-mid game to ever feel like they are contributing anything. By the end game, if you get some crafted daggers and hit 100% backstabs you will still deal some solid damage however. They now have Bad early-mid, but can become strong mid-end. 

- A lot of items now have huge penalties to movement when in the Original they could have boosts.

-Sarongs no longer need Intelligence to equip 

-Shields are now a hard sell. You can no longer easily max out your % chance to block with crafting + unique shields and they come with nasty penalties and destroy you damage output, Not much of any extra durability + destroys damage output = hard sell. 

- There are now "novice/adept/master" level spells/skills, and your skill level no longer just determines how many you can learn, but which ones you can learn. Level 1 in a skill will give you access to 3 novice skills, Level 3 gives you 6 novice/ 3 adept, and Level 5 gives you 6 novice/ 3 adept/ 2 master.

- Pick up an “oil barrel”, a "water barrel", and an “ooze barrel” ASAP in the game. (Minor spoiler*) There is an oil barrel and an ooze barrel right outside the western gate of Cyseal where you find out the fate of the legion soldiers being sent to the lighthouse, and water barrels can be found all over in Cyseal. 

-Keep backpacks such as “Evelyn’s Backpack” and “source hunters backpack” around as they are the only ones with names, the rest just say “backpack”; it can get very confusing which backpack holds which items, but if you know that “all your quest items” go into the “Evelyn’s Backpack” and your "grenades" go into one "source hunter" backpack and your "elemental arrows" go into the other, this will save you untold amount of time. You should have a backpack/storage for grenades/parts (Source Hunter), arrows/parts (Source Hunter), quest items (Evelyn's),+1 gear (pouch), and keys (New red backpack found before first fight of game) at the very least. Crafting/Blacksmithing items can/should be dumped on a mule. 

-Having points in sneaking, pickpocket, lock picking, crafting, blacksmithing, or loremaster on ANY of your main four champions is a WASTE OF POINTS STILL! DO NO DO THIS! Having two champions that you DO NOT use spec’d  one (Bairdotr) +5 crafting/blacksmithing/loremaster +3 tenebrium and the other (Wolgraff) +5 pickpocketing/bartering/lockpicking will work 100% of the game. When you level up, go back to your “home/base” and dismiss a champion and then pick up the champion that you need (if you need to craft or to identify and sell). Also, if you have/find ANY items that have +1 to any of those abilities, KEEP THEM IN A BACKPACK, if you really find that you want to pickpocket someone put on the gear pickpocket and then put the gear back in the backpack… 

- The same tactic as above should be used with any items (other than weapons) that add +Str. By the end game your crafting will allow you to put tormented souls to use (+2 Dex/Str) on top of any bonuses already on the weapon. This means that a dual can see his Str raise by 4-8 points with his two weapons. The problem is that some end game weapons (Sword of Planets and Buffalo Sabre post lv 20) will have a Str requirement of 14 to equip; however if you put items into your champion that raise his/her Str to 14, equip the weapons, and then take off the gear that increased his Str to 14 you will still be able to hold the weapons as they are now equipped and giving you +4-8 Str. You just need to make sure that you have more than 14 Str when you take the items off!

- MINOR SPOILER* You get 1 free point in the skill "Tenebrium" when you complete a quest or read the skill book, which means you will not get rot by touching the stuff. As far as items, normal weapons/uniques are simply better than their Tenebrium counterparts, so putting further points into the skill would be a waste... If you really want to put points into Tenebrium on your "crafting/blacksmithing" bench-warming champion so that you can add that type of damage to your weapon, you can, but all of the end game enemies will be healed by Tenebrium so its actual shelf life would be short... That skill is still broken in the EE (it was in the original as well) and just isn't worth the investment! You might get LUCKY and find a great Tenebrium weapon and wish you had points invested in it, but the uniques (such as the unique bow) will always be in the game and will still be solid endgame once you upgrade them, and they don't require you to waste a single skill point to use...

-Having someone in your party at ALL points in time with "Walk-in-Shadows" and "Winged/Hover Feet" scoundrel skills IS A MUST! 

-Pick up every single "cooking pot" you can find in the game... They are immune to lava and thus can be used to cover ANY trap vent in the game! Also, remember to get tornado, winged/hover feet and destroy summon to deal with the lava in the game. Destroy summon is important for dealing with early enemy summons that will teleport your champions onto nearby lava! (SPOILER* this is a huge deal early on in the game when you face "The Twins"/ "The Burning Legion".)

- Also with cooking pots, combining them with certain fires (ie. the fire right next to the Silverglen waypoint portal) will create a "mobile kitchen" that will spawn in your inventory. Keep it in your inventory and enjoy the benefits of a mobile forge/stove for your crafting needs that weighs nothing. 

- Sometimes you won’t be able to throw your pyramid from your inventory through a hole in wall, but if you put your pyramid on the floor and then throw the pyramid from the floor through the hole in the wall it seems to work 100% of the time

​- Line of Sight (LOS) and Crowd Control (CC) are the two most important things to consider when playing DOS. When the enemy loses LOS with you (most likely due to smoke) they will 1st try to regain a LOS before doing anything else; this means that all you have to do is set people on fire and create a trail of fire/smoke all the way to you and watch as the enemy runs throw the fire to get to you burning and dying along the way. When above tactic does not work CC will turn "I can't win this fight!" into "they didn't even touch me..." Don't ever underestimate the power of the "low AP costing CC skill/spells" as enemy that is frozen/knocked down/ shocked/petrified/ etc will not be able to deal ANY damage to you or your party.

- Enemies are suicidal. No, not just "suicide bombers" that appear is almost every game (why is that? So lame!) I mean the enemy is programed to "win at all costs". The player thinks and controls his group with the mindset that "killing everything isn't enough, I also can't let anyone die" as well; whereas the AI will set fire to half of their allies if it means taking just one of you down. What do you take from that? The players who do REALLY WELL in DOS are those that don't "RUSH IN!" but rather "sit back, and let the enemy come to me". This will do a couple things, 1. Make the enemy waste AP coming to you, 2. Limit the chances of having one of your people go down in smoke, and 3. Allow you to manipulate the environment. If you are running amok then your area of effect (AEO) abilities will end up doing more harm than good. 

-Frost grenades thrown at enemies will not only freeze them, but will cause those not immune to knockdown to fall as soon as they try to move. Very useful and will turn some hard battles into pot shots. 

- If you "miss click" and find yourself running when you should be attacking, immediately click "right mouse" as that will cancel your movement and not waste all your AP

-If you are sure you wish to attack and don't want to risk movement, try holding Ctrl down for ranged attacks (if you can’t see the enemy) or simply right clicking the enemy and selecting "attack" if you can see the enemy. 

- Immune to fire (or whatever) aura's are annoying. Try to sneak into the fight and start the fight by casting "teleport" on the enemy with the aura and bring them into your group; this will remove the aura from all his allies and set you up to take the aura enemy down ASAP. 

-Your teleport pyramids can be useful for starting some fights in the game; throw your pyramid down a ways back and if the battle starts off "very much in the favor of the enemy" teleport back to your dropped pyramid and make them come to you on your terms. 

- Casting haste on a friendly champion who is frozen is a great way to get him/her unfrozen while giving them a boost.

- Use scrolls... Seriously, don't waste time with wands that cripple your load out. Scrolls>Wands hands down...

- Poison explodes on fire, this makes the combo "firestorm grenade + toxic grenade/poison arrow" lethal early-mid game

http://divinityoriginalsin.wiki.fextralife.com/Traits 

Traits changed from Original to EE. In the original you saw a lot more variation in possible "good trait outcomes", in the EE there really is only "one right answer". Traits are gained when choosing different dialogue choices that the player will be presented with. Below is what you should be shooting for and why.

Independent: it is simply better than obedient, a 100% independent is also needed for a hard quest later on in the game and achievement! 

Compassionate: Backstab is now somewhat worthless even on the class, let alone other classes, and it might feed into a hard quest latter on in the game as well. 

Altruistic: I go with altruistic because money is totally worthless end game where as people's opinion of me is not; it means I can be caught stealing more before they fight me. Not to mention the fact that most quests force you to go altruistic if you wish to maximize XP gains... 

Righteous: leadership is an amazing skill whereas pickpocket is currently trash to begin with. Money is obsolete end game and you can only pickpocket a person once for a total of 2k? Worthless!

Blunt: Immunes are simply better than whatever the counter offer is everytime! 

Bold: after the "sneak nerf" there is absolutely zero reason to invest in sneak or focus on bonuses to it. 

Romantic: lucky charm = more chances to pick up gear, crafting items, etc. while on your journey. Crafting’s benefits stop at lv 5 (having 6, 7, etc. is totally worthless) and getting +1 gear is NOT difficult, let alone using a mule to craft for you. The ONLY reason I can see pragmatic being useful is if you went with "two lone wolfs", and even then +1 crafting gear would still be more important... 

Forgiving: Immunes are simply better than whatever the counter offer is every time! Needing a 100% forgiving trait is important for quest in game and achievement!

Spiritual: Immunes are simply better than whatever the counter offer is every time! 

The Four Elemental Rooms are found in front of the central statue at your Homestead. You will be unlocking the individual rooms’ one at a time over the course of the game as you acquire bloodstones. Each elemental room contains an Elemental that sells high-level skill books of their element.

You will choose which elementals to unlock when as you gather Blood Stones in the game, eventually unlocking all rooms’, the question is what order should you unlock them.

1. Ice Elemental: the ice elemental is clearly the strongest beyond any doubt, having both Expert Marksman skills (including Vampiric Arrow, Rain of Arrows, etc.) as well as all of you water spells and water essence. Water and E.M. are the two strongest schools in the game and they both come on this elemental, as well as water essence producing the best grenade in game in the "Frost Grenade= water essence + empty grenade". Win-Win-Win. 

2. Wind Elemental: Storm is nice but this is mostly taken for the scoundrel skills which this elemental sells as well, as well as Lightning Grenades = air essence + empty grenade. Those pesky novice skills are needed on everyone in your party and it can be hard to find them all, let alone early on- get the wind elemental 2nd to make sure you have all your scoundrel skills locked down asap, also as many lightning grenades as you can handle.

3. Earth Elemental: Earth has some of if not the weakest master level spells, but comes with Witchcraft, and some Witchcraft spells seem to be tricky to find, as well as the earthquake grenade = earth essence + empty grenade. Pick this one up next.

4. Fire Elemental: Meteor Shower frankly is not hard to get ahold of (or craft) and neither are any of the Man-at-Arms skills, as well as having the weakest grenade. Pick this up last due to the fact that you will most likely not even use Meteor Shower (other than with scrolls), that the Man-at-Arms skills are the easiest in game to acquire, and the fire essence + empty grenades producing the weakest of the four grenades.

PARTY OF FOUR:
For the best well rounded party (with story) make your source hunters into “Ranger Build” and “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard”, pick up Madora and build her into the "Leadership Knight Build", and pick up Jahan and build him into your "Shadowblade". 

PARTY OF THREE:
Going just one lone wolf so that you can have a party of three is actually MUCH better than having two lone wolfs if you are playing solo. You will still get the achievement, and will also be able to dismiss that third follower which means you don't have to invest/worry about crafting/blacksmithing/etc! (see "Mule" notes if you don't understand why that is) I would obviously suggest going “Ranger Build” + “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard” at creation and making the Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard the lone wolf so that the ranger can pick up glass cannon later in the build. Pick up Jahan and have him be the Shadowblade for a terror party. Remember, if you do this, pick up the 5 leadership on you Dual Sword/Axe Grenade Wizard as he has the "Lone Wolf" and make sure he gets a +1 Leadership helm!

PARTY OF TWO:
You guessed it, “Ranger Build” + “Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard” (You will have to replace "glass cannon" with another talent on your Ranger as glass cannon and lone wolf are not compatible)! Also, I would strongly, strongly recommend if you go with "something else" that you at least do the following:

1. Both should have level 4 Hydro (water) with Hail Attack
2. One uses bow with a level 5 Expert Marksman (elemental arrows are that useful early-mid and mid-end bows deal untold damage)
3. The OTHER one uses grenades (pinpoint/slingshot) 
4. Both end up over 15 Int after items and gear (for max CD)
5. Both use summons first round of every serious fight
6. Take lone wolf AT CREATION, as the extra points you gain per level are NOT retroactive

What you put in the hands of your other person is up to you, dual just has the easiest/highest damage output every playthrough because of Tormented Souls.

THOUGHTS ON PARTY COMP:

- More people in your party the easier combat becomes, the less people the more difficult 
- Less people means less inventory management, more means more
- More people in your party the more different playstyles you can include, less means less
- Henchmen are soulless boring husks and companions are not much better, source hunters are done very well, so the more followers the more you have to deal with weak story, the less followers the better the story feels. 

In my opinion if you want to go for the best experience the game can offer you will go two lone wolfs and play with a friend (suggested builds above for two person party); if you are great at the game and want more of a challenge make sure you are on tactician. If you are playing solo then I would suggest going four party, as leveling up your people and putting gear on them etc. is most of the "fun" in single player IMO... Why/who would go three party then? Most likely people who are playing solo who want the "lone wolf" achievement...

Get asked this a lot...

Q: "If you built a 'pure build' party what would it looks like?"

1. Knight (Madora); Unchanged from the guide save for removing of magic (for if she could cast magic she wouldn't be "pure" now would she?), she is your "pure" two-handed man-at-arms knight.

2. Wizard (Jahan or Elessa); 4 in Water, Air, and Witchcraft with 1 point in all the other schools. Dual wands for the +2/4/6 stats you can get from them but don't waste point in dual or wand skill. You would also have to give the unique summon of the game (Nick) to this person as well as all scrolls, as they are the only "magic users"... This would be your "pure" magic wizard. 

3. Ranger (Source Hunter 1); mostly unchanged from guide... Stats change to Dex (7/10/12) Per/Spd (6/7/8) and magic you obviously would have to get rid of (can't have her not being "pure" now could we?) Remove "far out man" talent but mostly everything else can stay the same. Bring E.M. to 5 and pick up two master level E.M. skills. This is your "pure" bow/expert marksmen ranger.

4. Tempest (Source Hunter 2); Take pinpoint and slingshot and then bully, backstab, opportunist, and parry master for talents. Stats would be Dex and Str (7/9/11) with Con (6/7/8). Dual a dagger in your main hand and an axe/mace/sword in your off hand. Bring dual wielding/scoundrel up to 5 and man-at-arms up to 3. Put some vodoo dolls on him/her because, tempest? This would be your "pure" backstab dual wielding grenade throwing tempest. 

ROLEPLAYING: If you were taking the "pure party" further and wanted to role play, the consequences of traits be damned, your Tempest would most likely be independent, egotistical, renegade, blunt, materialistic, heartless, pragmatic, and vindictive with the rest up in the air, while your Ranger would be altruistic, independent, righteous, spiritual, and compassionate with the rest up in the air. Obviously that would make things more difficult for some situations. 

OVERALL: Frankly with a grenade thrower and a special arrows shooter levels 1-15 won't be that much more difficult, per say, battles will be longer and thus damage taken will go up- the biggest issue would be not wasting AP/turns on people who only had certain skills, ie. "destroy summon". Levels 15-FIN you will have to be doing all your master level spells on turn 2 because you won't have scoundrel's "adrenaline" skill (unless you cheated and didn't go "pure"!) which means that you will have to count on sneak attacks and/or round two+ fights which = more difficult. Impossible? Hardly. You would still have all the master skill available that crush 15-FIN just less repeats...

Source: http://divinityoriginalsin.wiki.fextralife.com/Companions 

Found: They can be purchased from John Smythn in the Hall of Heroes. You must be no lower than one level beneath the henchman's level in order to hire him/her.

About: You can also hire other followers, these however will not "auto level up" with you, so purchase them when you are at or below their level and NEVER remove them from party if you wish to use them. Also, past a certain lv (Henchmen lv 5) you will not find anyone worth purchasing as their allocation becomes more and more "beyond repair", this means the window to purchasing these henchmen is between levels 2-5, which is a very small window... There are only a couple that should potentially draw your attention:

Berthold "The Barrel"
Cleric Level 2
+2 Strength
+2 Intelligence
+2 Constitution
+1 Single-Handed
+1 Shield Specialist
+1 Armor Specialist
+2 Hydrosophist
Know-It-All
Stench

Thoughts: If you hurry with your initial Star stones you can get to him at around lv 2. If you hate Jahan, Berthold will build into Dual Wizard just as well if not better than Jahan if you really wanted two of them. He comes with "Stench" and no Spd, just give him the "Glass Cannon" talent to help with his AP needs and put the last secondary stat point into Con as well.

Tal'sana
Shadowblade 3
+4 Dexterity
+2 Intelligence
+1 Scoundrel
+2 Single-Handed
+2 Witchcraft
Know-It-All
Elemental Affinity
Bully

Thoughts: Fantastic contender for Shadowblade! Perfect stats and talents with decent skills makes her the best choice for Shadowblade Jahan alternative in the game. 

Sondre
Enchanter 5
+7 Intelligence
+1 Pyrokinetic
+2 Hydrosophist
+2 Aerothurge
+1 Geomancer
+1 Loremaster
What a Rush
Far Out Man
Bully

Thoughts: Frankly might be the best follower in the entire game... Great stat, great skills, and great talents and laid out in such a way that you could build any direction you wanted! Ranger/Dual Mace Wizard/Shadowblade you can build into basically flawlessly. If you hate one or more of the unique followers, Sondre is an easy "opt out"... 

Elessa
Witch 7
+5 Intelligence
+1 Constitution
+2 Speed
+5 Witchcraft
+2 Willpower
+3 Hydrosophist
+1 Geomancer
+2 Sneaking
Packmule
Far Out Man
Elemental Affinity
Walk It Off

http://steamcommunity.com/app/373420/discussions/0/357284131808981130/

Elessa is currently glitched out. For a level 7 character Elessa comes with 15 more ability points than a lv 7 should have- even more than a "lone wolf" would have at this point. Don't know how much longer she will be around in her broken condition or if I will honestly ever use her because she is so broken, but here she is!

Source: http://divinityoriginalsin.wiki.fextralife.com/Wolgraff 

There are four semi unique companions in the game. They are the only four who will auto-level up with you, as well as all having a single unique quest tied to them as well as unique banter, they are:

Madora: 
Found: in the King Crab Tavern in Cyseal.
Stats: +3 Str, +2 Con, +1 Spd
Skills: +2 Two-Handed, +2 Man-at-Arms, +1 Bodybuilding
Talents: Comeback Kid, Opportunist, What a Rush
Best Class: Two-Handed Knight A+
Thoughts: Madora comes with "comeback kid" which cannot normally be taken until one has 5 points invested into willpower, this is a huge boon. She also comes with her stats perfectly allocated- because of those two facts she literally is the best two handed leadership knight in the game, even better than source hunters as source hunters wouldn't get the "comeback kid" for free. If you want a two handed leadership knight build in your party do not make your source hunter one, pick up Madora... If you are going "lone wolf" and don't pick up Madora, remember to pick up leadership skill on your lone wolf!

Jahan:
Found: found in the Library in Cyseal; on the second floor of the mayor's house.
Stats: +3 Int, +2 Con, +1 Per
Skills: +1 Willpower, +2 Aerotheurge, +2 Hydrosophist    
Talents: Scientist, Far-out-Man, Elemental Affinity
Best Class: Dual Wizard C+/Shadowblade A
Thoughts: Great skill allocation with decent talents and stats. The +1 Per can easily be changed to a +1 Int with a unique book found in game, that means that his stats end game as a Shadowblade are flawless. Because of this Jahan makes a perfect Shadowblade (unique daggers will give +6 Spd end game so Shadowblades can afford to have Con as a secondary vs Spd). Because of Jahan's ability to build into Shadowblade so easily as well as being one of the four unique followers (they auto level up with you) Jahan should most likely be one of your two followers.

Wolgraff:
Found: in the tunnel at the cemetery, in Cyseal; or down the well directly out the west gate. 
Stats: +3 Spd, +2 Dex, +2 Per
Skills: +2 Dual Wielding, +2 Scoundrel, +1 Lockpicking, +1 Pickpocketing, +1 Sneaking    
Talents: Backstabbing, Light Stepper, Escapist
Best Class: Shadowblade B (B if you use two unique books, C- if not)
Thoughts: Terrible stats, not great skills, and two talents wasted makes Wolgraff one of the worst if not the worst spec'd of the four. If you can find two of the unique books and gives a +1 to Int at the cost of -1 Per you can turn his stats somewhat around so that as a Shadowblade he will end up with his 11/11 in Int/Dex (don't add any more points to Spd!) but that will also mean that you would have an ultra-glass cannon on your hands for no damn good reason...

Bairdotr:
Found: jailed near the Legion Headquarters in Cyseal. 
Stats: +2 Dex, +2 Con, +1 Spd, +1 Per
Skills: +1 Bow, +1 Tenebrium, +1 Loremaster, +2 Expert Marksman
Talents: Arrow Recovery, Bully, Stench
Best Class: Ranger C-?
Thoughts: The worst stat allocation of the four without a doubt, with decent skills and talents makes Bairdotr contender for worst of the four. No matter what you do Bairdotr will not end up with 11/11 in her primary stats which means she will end up being be a terrible spell caster and a subpar bow user or simply just a very strong bow user with no other redeeming qualities. Of the four she gets my "most likely to be turned into a crafting mule" as she already has a point in loremaster and tenebrium. Ranger is the most powerful build in the game and Bairdotr doesn't cut it; it would be well for you to avoid Bairdotr and make one of your main two source hunters a ranger built from the ground up. Also, if you are not careful *SPOILER* Bairdotr can and will leave the party and try to kill you!

​Name of build.

Picture of creation is provided.

Skills should be taken in the order they appear and to the level at which is recommended. For example if you read:

*example*
1. Scoundrel - 1
2. Man-at-Arms - 2 
3. Air/Wind/Earth - 2
4. Water - 4 (2 pre level 15)
* Fire - 4

That means that you should first get "scoundrel skill" to skill level one, then move on to #2 which tells us to get Man-at-Arms to skill level two, then move on to #3 which tells us to get Air, Wind, and Earth ALL to skill level two (which one you bring up first is personal choice and won't have much impact if any), then move on to #4 which tells us to get water to skill level 2 and then once we are level 15 to get it to skill level 4. 

Talents are set up the exact same way, take #1 talent, then #2 talent, etc. etc...

You will end up with more skill points and talents then are listed, that is when you get into *'s which are optionary based on how you are playing. In the example above that would be *Fire - 4

*example*
Str- 7/9/11
Int- 7/9/11
Spd- 6/7/8

Attr. points should be added in the same ratios as listed. At creation you will have 5 attr. points to spend, in above example you will have 7 in your two primary stats (Str and Int) and 6 in your secondary stat (Spd), thus 7/7/6. By mid-game you should be around 9/9/7 and by level 20-22 you will have put in +4 into your two primaries and +2 into your secondary, giving you a base of 11/11/8 (gear, talents, and other things will increase these numbers further). 

As you level up just put attr. points in the ratios listed in build.

Ranger (Bairdotr pulls this off at a C- level):

1. Scoundrel/Expert Marksman/Water/Fire/Air/Earth/Charisma/Witchcraft- 1
2. Bow/Witchcraft/Water/Expert Marksman- 2
3. Water/Expert Marksman- 4 (Post level 15)
4. Bow-5
5. Witchcraft- 4 
6. Expert Marksman- 5
*7. Bodybuilding/Willpower- 1-3

1. Far Out Man
2. Light Stepper
3. Pet pal
4. Stench 
5. Sidestep
6. Glass Cannon
7. Elemental Ranger

Dex +2 (7/9/11)
Int + 2 (7/9/11)
Per + 1 (6/7/8)

OVERALL: One of the most powerful builds in the game, IMO the strongest build in the game and no one you can get as a companion builds into this well, which is why this gets my top pick for your first source hunter. Period. Strong Early-Mid-End. 

How to Play Early Game: you will be using a lot of elemental arrows with a mixture of whatever spells you can get your hands on and normal physical attacks. Remember, elemental arrows NEVER miss, and some such as "slowdown arrow" are super easy to make (oil barrel + arrow head) and happen to work on almost all enemies. Poison Arrow is also an easy one (ooze barrel + arrow head) and when shot at someone on fire will also cause explosions. Give yourself a single point in earth/air/water/fire/witch/expert marksman/scoundrel ASAP and pick up the novice skills teleportation/blitz bolt/bitter cold in air, boulder bash/midnight oil/spider in earth, burn my eyes/flare/wildfire in fire, regeneration/rain/slow current in water, splintered arrow/ranged power stance/ricochet in expert marksman, walk-in-shadows/winged feet/fast track in scoundrel, and oath of desecration in witchcraft. As soon as possible make +1 Charisma gear (Belt= Magical Tooth + Rope, Necklace= Magical Tooth + Thread, Rings= Magical Tooth + Ring Kits) and keep it in her backpack.

How to Play Mid Game: Be sure to pick up "burn my eyes" in fire magic ASAP in town if you haven't already, as this will be needed to spot traps as well as hidden treasure more and more as the game progresses; it has a huge turn count which means you can and should have it cast on your ranger at all times (if you still can't spot stuff be sure to make perception potions [eye + empty vial]). Adept skills to look for are ice shard/mass slow/summon ice elemental/cleansing water in water, destroy summon, summon armored undead decapitator (for its poison immune- an upgrade to the Summon Spider) drain willpower and/or rupture in witchcraft, and finally barrage/farseer/vampiric arrow in expert marksman.

How to Play End Game: you will be primarily fighting from a distance as you will become a glass cannon with a bow and powerful magic. (Why bow vs crossbow? http://steamcommunity.com/app/373420/discussions/0/357284767229948204/ ) You won’t be using nearly as many elemental arrows by the end and basic physical attacks should rarely be used, if ever. Master skills to look out for are Hail Attack in Water, and Rain of Arrows plus Arrow Spray in Expert Marksman and Soul Sap in Witchcraft. Adrenaline should be used to replace Fast Track to make the build even more stupid OP. 

Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard (Jahan pulls this off at a C- level): 

1. Man-at-Arms/Scoundrel/Water/Fire/Air/Earth/Witchcraft- 1
2. Dual Wielding/Man-at-Arms/Scoundrel- 3
3. Witchcraft- 2
4. Water- 4 (Post lv 15)
5. Air-4
6. Dual Wielding- 5
*7. Willpower/Body Building +1-3 


1. Slingshot
2 Pinpoint 
3. Far Out Man
4. Bully
5. Opportunist 
6. Backstab 
7. Parry Master


Int/Dex/Str +1.5 (6.5/8/10)

OVERALL: One of the most powerful builds in the game. Period. Jahan builds into Shadowblade much better than this build (due to Jahan coming with two talents and +2 in Con) which means that much like Ranger build, no one in the game builds well into this build; strong recommendation to build second source hunter into this build.

How to play: For the Early-Mid game be sure to pick up all the "touching spells" ASAP, as you will find that they require little AP and their CC is beyond useful. Also, currently picking up "melee power stance" from Man-at-Arms and having it active will increase ALL damage by 20%, and since spells don't ever miss you will be getting an extra 20% damage for free as you will always have a melee weapon in hand. Play it safe and stay back until the enemies are CC'd or weak and then jump in with thunder jump/battering ram and all your touch spells (burning/freezing/shocking/decaying, etc. touch). Putting one point into scoundrel/man-at-arms and every other school of magic as well as into "dual wielding" will set you up solid early game. You should be throwing grenades like toilet paper- firestorm + toxic at a minimum- but grenades such as the frost grenade can make impossible fights pot shots. There are enough empty bottles to make over a hundred firestorm grenades in Cyseal alone, and you should be throwing just as many. Spam Midnight Oil and then toss. Firefly will also help you with this. Certain fights early on you will find people with "immune to fire aura", try to sneak in to the battle and teleport the person with the aura into the middle of your party to start the fight- that way all of his friends can be burned and you can take out the aura producer ASAP. By Mid-End game your spells will be powerful enough to take out most enemies, but you also can CC and destroy hand-to-hand with physical damage. You will become the ultimate weapon, and what you do in battle should depend entirely on the battle itself and the enemies you are fighting. B


*WIELD A DAGGER IN YOUR MAIN HAND AT ALL POINTS IN TIME*

Thoughts on Axe vs Mace vs Sword in your off hand: Maces deal crushing damage which for the first at least 50% of the game EVERY enemy you fight will take extra damage from crushing and reduced from slashing and piercing (sword/axe/dagger/and bow). Also a unique mace (which is fantastic) will always drop at the lighthouse and a decent unique sword will always drop around the same time. These factors make maces hands down the strongest weapon available levels 1-7 followed by the sword. Between levels 10-20 you will see less enemies that take reduced damage from slashing but you will still end up running into enemies that are immune to piercing and take extra damage from crushing (any statue for example), also crafted gear starts to become a thing around level 7. The mid game you will see axes start to shine because of this as well as their crafted ability to add 6-8% crit chance, but maces will never phase out of usefulness due to its crushing damage. By the end game piercing/slashing/crushing damage seem to even out entirely which mean flat damage becomes the most important factor. Because of that axes with their flat raw damage and extra crit chance are in. Frankly if you couldn't craft sword of planets or buffalo sabre at lv 22 then swords would be the weakest of the three and never really have a strong point the entire game- however, that is a very powerful combo after level 22.

Mace= Levels 1-7 Best, Levels 7-15 Mid, Levels 15-END Mid
Axe= Levels 1-7 Worst, Levels 7-15 Best, Levels 15-END Best
Sword= Levels 1-7 Mid, Levels 7-15 Worst, Levels 15-END Worst/Best

The best path for evolving off hand weapon use would be to use a mace in your off hand levels 1-7, an axe for levels 11-22 (after tenebrium addition to 6% crit axes), and then for FIN Bosses (post lv 22) use Sword of Planets (with Joshua's Spice) or a 8% crit axe or Buffalo Sabre. 

Ideas from Zero7 helped with construction of this build, his link was found here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/373420/discussions/0/357284767244750359/ 

Shadowblade (Jahan builds into this A):

1. Man-at-Arms/Scoundrel/Water/Fire/Air/Earth/Witchcraft- 1
2. Dual Wielding/Scoundrel- 3
3. Witchcraft- 2
4. Water- 4 (Post lv 15)
5. Air/Scoundrel- 4
6. Dual Wielding- 5
*7. Willpower/Body Building +1-3 

1. Far Out Man
2. Backstabber
3. Bully
4. Opportunist 
5. Parry Master
* Know-it-All and/or Bigger and Better 

Int +2 (7/9/11)
Dex +2 (7/9/11)
Con +1 (6/7/8)


OVERALL: As I describe below, this build is one of the best in the game, but not top two material due to not being able to use Grenades. This build would be used when you pick up Jahan (Jahan would have to be a pure Shadowblade with dual daggers as his stats won't support a dagger + axe/sword/mace hybrid hybrid) or if you are using a four person creation mod. Moderate early to mid but will become uber strong mid to end. 

How to play early to mid: For almost all intents and purposes the Shadowblade plays just like the Dual Wizards save that he uses pure daggers and thus uses only his Dex. Give your Shadowblade the same skills as you would a dual: pick up Burning Touch, Firefly, and Wildfire (fire) + Teleport, Thunder Jump, and Shocking Touch (air) + Midnight Oil, Boulder Bash, and Summon Spider (Earth) + Freezing Touch, Rain, and Regeneration (Water) + Vampiric Touch, Decaying Touch (awesome when used with Regeneration in water) and Oath Of Desecration (Witchcraft) + Helping Hand, Melee Power Stance, and Battering Ram (Man-at-Arms) + Winged Feet, Fast Track, and Walk-in-Shadows (Scoundrel). Craft yourself dagger with +1 speed (on each) and keep them on at all costs until you can craft +2 Spd and then +3 Spd on your daggers. For the first 25-50% of the game you will find that you won't be dealing very much melee damage vs enemies who all take reduced from daggers, this is fine, the power in the build comes from its extra hp (from the Con) as well as its massive AP boost you gain from daggers (from the +6 Spd) mid-end game. 

How to play mid to end: You will be able to deal more damage melee at this point in time, but frankly you will be using less melee from levels 15 to END overall as ranged master spells become available. The strength in the daggers is not in the actual daggers and backstab but in the extra +6 Spd you gain from using them. This massive AP boost when tied with Adrenaline (should be taken as a replacement for Fast Track around lv 15) makes the Shadowblade just as potent magically as the Ranger with her +3 Spd bow and Glass Cannon without sacrificing HP! Pick up Hail Attack in water, Storm in air when you hit 15.

Pro's of Build vs Dual: 
-Massive AP 
-Much greater HP pool 
-Great magic output (due to AP)

Con's of Build vs Dual:
-Massively less melee damage output early-mid with less melee output mid-end 
-Uses Dex as Prime vs Str means crappier gear all around
-Due to gear the extra HP may seem negligible as you take more damage across the board

Overall Thoughts on Build: Jahan builds into this seamlessly (pure build), making it a great fit. However, due to the massive loss in melee output early-mid when it matters the most and the extra AP and greater magic output coming mid-end game when you need it the least (it is more "overkill" than anything at that point) the build overall is not as good as the Dual Wielding. As a dual you will be dealing massive damage early-mid while the Shadowblade will struggle (grenades help a lot). As a dual you will be dealing massive damage mid-end with both melee and magic while the Shadowblade will be dealing either great damage with melee or even better damage with magic. Dual is very strong the whole game while Shadowblade will find his/her place somewhere between lvs 7-15 and have a stronger finish end (as magic will end up becoming more important). Because of this I would still say Ranger is the most powerful build in game, followed by Dual Wielding Grenade Wizard. I would also say that Jahan as Shadowblade would also make for one perfectly rounded party with Madora as the Leadership Knight, as she is very strong early and fades out a bit while the Shadowblade is the opposite. 

Two Handed Leadership Knight (Madora pulls this off at an A+ level):

1. Scoundrel/Earth/Air/Man-at-Arms/Leadership- 1
2. Leadership- 5 (After Leadership helm it should be 6)
3. Two handed/Man-at-Arms-5 
4. Body Building/Willpower- 1-3

1. Bully
2. Opportunist 
3. Five Star Dinner 
4. Picture of Health
* Comeback Kid + What a Rush (Madora comes with these)

Str +2.5 (8/10/12)
Con +1.25 (6/7.5/9)
Spd +1.25 (6/7.5/9)

OVERALL: This is NOT a build you would want for your main two source hunters because frankly Madora will build into it better (free "comeback kid") and it is by no means one of the two most powerful builds in the game. This build would be used when you pick up Madora or are using a four person creation mod. Strong Early, Moderate-to-Strong Mid-End. 

How to play: Early-Mid game the knight will be saving peoples butts often due to her massive hp and ability to deal massive damage vs bosses (who don't take reduced damage from slashing). Battering Ram and knock-down should be used often and maximized (try obviously hitting the most enemies possible) as it is some of your earliest real CC. Pick up Midnight Oil, Summon Spider, and Boulder Bash in Earth and Teleportation, Winds of Change, and Thunder Jump in Air- these skills only require you to be lv 1 in the skill and don't have penalties for low Int while all being VERY useful skills! Also think about putting all your scrolls on her as well as giving her the unique summon of the game to give her even more options. If you are having trouble keeping her alive and/or have used all your healing potions consider picking up "five star dinner" talent and crafting simple things like "french fries" (potato + knife + over) or fish pies (wheat + M&P = flour + water + = dough + fish + oven= fish pie) which will act as early powerful healing potions. Creating voodoo dolls and throwing then on her will give her even more options. By Mid-End game the two handed knight won’t be dealing nearly as much damage (due to a complete lack of any AoE skill in 2-handed man-at-arms builds), but with flurry and rage/oath they will be decent vs single targets. Throw all your armor potions and res potions on her as well as crafted large healing potions to keep her alive for as long as possible; she will become very hard to kill with comeback kid + what a rush. 

Q. What is "The Mule"?
A. "The Mule" as a companion where their entire function is to do nothing more than to "mule" items for the party.

Q. How does it work?
A. Once you open up your "homestead" you will have an area appear called "hall of heroes", this is where dismissed companions go and wait for you to pick them up again. Dismiss a companion by talking to them and "asking them to leave the party", then talk to the companion that you have set up to be your mule (Bairdotr has been voted "most likely to be mule" 6 games running...) and ask them to join the group. Dump gear such as ore, branches, etc. on to them for current or later use.

Q. What talents/stats should I give "The Mule"?
A. Pick up "scientist" talent as well as "packmule" and dump all their stat points into Str- this will allow them to carry a massive amount of weight. Then put your crafting, blacksmithing, and loremaster +1/2 gear on them. As they level up, put ability points into crafting, blacksmithing, and loremaster so that after gear bonuses all of those skills are a 5+. Add into tenebrium skill as soon as you get some of the ore and wish to coat your weapons with it- most useful when done between levels 13-20. 

Q. What are the pro's for doing this?
A. None of your main 4 champions need to put a single point into any of those skills. You can pick up everything in the game and not have to worry about your own inventory getting messy. You don't have to hassle with putting +1/2 gear on and off your main four. Crafting/blacksmithing/tenebrium damage is beyond useful. 

Q. How often do you go back and use your mule?
A. Every level (or couple hours, whichever comes first) I go back to homestead, dismiss Jahan or Madora and pick up Bairdotr (who has been voted most likely to be my mule 6 games running...). She (Bairdotr) identifies all the gear I found, I then do my merchant run and finish (after doing all my purchases) with my blacksmithing/crafting before I dismiss her and pick Madora/Jahan back up and continue.

Q. Does this work with dual lonewolfs?
A. Obviously, no, which is one of the biggest "con's" to going with a dual wolf team. 

Q. Does this work with henchmen/hirelings or only companions?
A. Only companions. Companions (the four) will auto level up with the source hunters even when not "in the party" while hirelings/henchmen will not.

~DISCLAIMER~
Remember with each suggestion I make it is based off of "how much the spell would be used", obviously every single spell/skill has specific cases in which they could be used, but only in those limited cases are they even remotely effective; in those cases I recommend using scrolls and saving precious skill points. For the other spells that are useful enough that you will not be able to craft/own enough scrolls, investment comes into play...


NOTE
With a 3-4 in a specific skill you can learn 6 novice skills, if there are < or = (less than or equal to) 6 skills total you can learn them all and thus listing all six skills would be redundant. (<6 simply means that you can learn them all.) If you can learn 6 skills and there are 7 skills total in the game, instead of listing all six skills that you should learn I simply state which skill(s) to NOT learn in some cases for simplification.

AIR MAGIC

Level 1 Air (Ranger, Leadership Knight)
Teleportation (Both)
Thunder Jump (Leadership Knight)
Wind of Change (Leadership Knight)
Blitz Bolt (Ranger)
Bitter Cold (Ranger)

Level 4 Air (Dual Wielding, Shadowblade)
NOVICE
Don’t take Avatar of Storms 
ADEPT
Don’t take Air Absorption 
MASTER
Storm 

Chain Lightning/Netherswap Required lv 12
Storm/Make Invisible Required lv 15

EARTH MAGIC

Level 1 Earth (Ranger, Leadership Knight, Dual Wielding, Shadowblade)
Boulder Bash (All)
Midnight Oil (All)
Summon Spider (All)

Summon Slug/Deadly Spores Required lv 12
Earthquake/Summon Earth Elemental Required lv 15

FIRE MAGIC

Level 1 Fire (Ranger, Dual Wielding, Shadowblade)
Firefly (Dual Wielding, Shadowblade)
Burning Touch (Dual Wielding, Shadowblade)
Wildfire (ALL)
Flare (Ranger) 
Burn My Eyes (Ranger)

Immolation Required lv 12
Infectious Flame/Meteor Shower Required lv 15

WATER MAGIC

Level 4 Water (Dual Wielding, Shadowblade, Ranger)
NOVICE
<6
ADEPT
Don’t take Waters of Life, Water Absorption, or Ice Wall 
MASTER
Hail Attack 

Mass Disease Required lv 12
Hail Attack/Winterblast/MassHeal Required lv 15

WITCHCRAFT MAGIC

Level 2 Witchcraft (Dual Wielding, Shadowblade)
NOVICE
Don’t take Summon Undead Warrior and Malediction 
ADEPT
Summon Undead Armored Decapitator 
Destroy Summon 

Level 4 Witchcraft (Ranger)
NOVICE
<6
ADEPT
Drain Willpower 
Rapture 
Summon Undead Armored Decapitator 
Destroy Summon 
MASTER
Soul Sap 

Soul Sap Required lv 12
Ressurect/Death Punch/Invunerability Required lv 15


MAN-AT-ARMS SKILLS

Level 1 Man-at-Arms (Shadowblade)
Battering Ram 
Helping Hand
Melee Power Stance

Level 3 Man-at-Arms (Dual Wielding) 
NOVICE
Don’t get Melee Defensive Stance or Divine Light
ADEPT
Rage
Crippling Blow
Whirlwind 

Level 5 Man-at-Arms (Leadership Knight)
NOVICE
Don’t get Melee Defensive Stance or Divine Light
ADEPT
Don’t get Barbed Wire or Elemental Tortoise 
MASTER 
Flurry
Shackles of Pain

Flurry Required lv 12
Shackles of Pain Required lv 15

EXPERT MARKSMAN SKILLS

Level 5 Expert Marksman (Ranger)
NOVICE
Don’t take Ranged Precision Stance
ADEPT
Farseer 
Barrage 
Vampiric Arrow
*Whatever*
MASTER
Rain of Arrows
Arrow Spray

Arrow Spray/Shrapnel Required lv 12
Rain of Arrows Required lv 15

SCOUNDREL SKILLS

Level 1 Scoundrel (Ranger, Leadership Knight)
Walk-in-Shadows
Hover Feet (aka Winged Feet)
Fast Track (pre level 15) Adrenaline (post level 15)

Level 3 Scoundrel (Dual Wielding)
NOVICE
Fast Track (pre level 15) Adrenaline (post level 15)
Walk-in-Shadows
Winged Feet (aka Hover Feet)
Precise Incision 
Lacerate 
Venomous Strike
ADEPT
Eye Gouge 
Daggers Drawn
Cloak and Dagger

Level 4 Scoundrel (Shadowblade)
NOVICE
Fast Track (pre level 15) Adrenaline (post level 15)
Walk-in-Shadows
Winged Feet (aka Hover Feet)
Precise Incision 
Lacerate 
Venomous Strike
ADEPT
Eye Gouge 
Daggers Drawn
Become Air
Cloak and Dagger
MASTER
Shadow Step

Crawling Infestation Required lv 12
Coup de Grace/ShadowStep Required lv 15

Note that the game is really broken into three specific times, "Levels 1-7", "Levels 7-15" and "Levels 15-FIN".

LEVELS 1-7

The game is much more difficult here, mostly due to the fact that master level skills will make POST-LEVEL 15 a joke if you have built yourself right, but a couple of other things set the early game apart in huge ways such as having Low AP/HP/FUNDS insta-death enemies/boss moves/traps.

So what Novice abilities/talents/items make the early-mid game easier and/or are the best investments?

1. Midnight Oil + Boulder Bash: Very Low AP Cost, Very Cheap Books, AoE, has "Oiled" CC
2. Rain: Very Low AP Cost, Very Cheap Book, AoE, has "Wet" CC 
3. Grenades + Special Arrows: 3-4 AP, Dirt Cheap to Craft, AoE, all sorts of CC
4. Touching Spells: Very Low AP Cost, Cheap Books, Single Targets, all sorts of CC
5. Summon Spider: High AP, Cheap Book, Summon that detects traps and is poison immune
6. Teleport: High AP, Medium Book Cost, Endless Possibilities
7. Regenerate: Medium AP, Cheap Skill Book, heal yourself or hurt certain enemies
8. Walk-in-Shadows + Hover Feet + Fast Track: Low AP cost, Cheap Book, Endless Possiblities 
9. Power Stances: No AP cost, Cheap Books, 20% increase in all damage
10. Wildfire + Burn My Eyes: Medium AP cost, Expensive-Medium Book Cost, cures for "Frozen" and "Blind" as well as gives "Haste" and +2 Perception (spotting traps and secrets)
11. Thunder Jump + Battering Ram: Medium AP, Medium Book Cost, Mobility Boost + CC


LEVELS 7-15

What are ADEPT abilities that will best help you transition between PRE-LEVEL 15 and POST-LEVEL 15?

1. Rage +Farseer: Very Low AP cost, Medium book cost, Massive damage and % hit chance boost
2. Drain Willpower: Medium to Low AP cost, Medium book cost, Brutal CC for bosses
3. Destroy Summon: Medium AP, Medium book cost, Insta death for pesky enemy summons
4. Crippling Blow + Daggers Drawn + Barrage/Splintered Arrow: Your three heavy hitting skills- Melee/Dagger/Bow, all of which are brutal the entire game.


POST-LEVEL 15

Once you hit level 15 master level spells come into play (note that you have to have at least 4 points in a skill to learn master spells but almost all master spells you can't learn until you are at least lv 15 in EE; this means there is little/no point in putting 4-5 points into any school of magic pre level 15!) and what wins? Three things come into play, 1. Single target vs AoE, 2. How much damage does it do, and 3. CC or not to CC. Abilities like "Hail Attack" and "Rain of Arrows" are the best because they do multiple things very well. AoE will always trump single target, flat damage will always trump damage over time (fire/burning) and imobilizer CC is clearly the best (frozen, shocked, etc). 

1. Hail Attack= AoE, great damage, and frozen CC. (Rating- GOOD)
2. Rain of Arrows= AoE, massive raw damage, no CC. (Rating- GOOD)
3. Storm= AoE, decent damage, stunned CC (Rating- UGLY-Hail Attack is better) 
4. Meteor Shower= AoE, good damage, burning CC (Rating- UGLY-Hail Attack is better)
5. Arrow Spray= Cone AoE, massive damage, no CC (Rating- UGLY- Rain of Arrows is better)

These are the five best Master skills in the game. Because Fire Magic Novice and Adept skills are beyond worthless and because "burning" is a terrible CC post level 15, the investment to pick up Meteor Shower is personally not recommended. Arrow Spray is not as useful overall as Rain of Arrows but for certain situational fights (such as the final fight of the game) when positioned correctly the Ranger with this skill will drop some of the hardest bosses in the game in a single shot.

HONORABLE MENTIONS 

* Flurry= Single, good damage, no CC (Rating-UGLY- no AoE, no CC)
* Soul Sap= Single, no damage, brutal CC (Rating-UGLY- no damage, no AoE)


These two master level skills are actually BAD to UGLY vs most mobs in the game but vs certain bosses they will shine- your Leadership Knight will get Flurry and your Ranger will get Soul Sap.

There are a million and half things to craft in Divinity Original Sin, here are the most important items: 

POTION-LIKE-ITEMS:
Jellyroom + Empty Potion Flask = Air Resistance Potion
Empty Potion Flask + Guepinia Mushroom = Fire Resistance Potion
Empty Potion Flask + Bluegill Mushroom = Water Resistance Potion
Ooze Barrel + Empty Vial = Poison Vial
Empty Potion Flask + Penny Bun Mushroom = Minor Healing Potion
Minor Healing Potion + Minor Healing Potion = Medium Healing Potion
Medium Healing Potion + Medium Healing Potion = Large Healing Potion

ARROWS:
[UNIQUE] Arrowhead + Arrow Shaft = [UNIQUE] Arrow
Arrowhead + Drudanae Herb = Charming Arrowhead
Ooze Barrel + Arrowhead = Poison Arrowhead
Antlers + Knife = Knockdown Arrowhead
Tooth + Knife = Stunning Arrowhead
Silver Bar + Anvil = Silver Arrowhead
Oil Barrel + Arrowhead = Slowdown Arrowhead
Water Resistance Potion + Arrowhead = Steamcloud Arrowhead
Fire Resistance Potion + Arrowhead = Explosive Arrowhead
Arrowhead + Air Resistance Potion = Static Cloud Arrowhead

GRENADES:
Poison Vial + Empty Grenade = Toxic Grenade 
Bottle of Oil + Fuse = Firestorm Grenade
Nails + Empty Grenade = Nail Grenade (Bleeding)
Hammer + Empty Bottle = Broken Bottle
Broken Bottle + Empty Grenade = Armor Piercing Grenade 
Jellyroom + Empty Canister = Razzle Dazzle Grenade
Intestines    + Water =    Water Balloon
Empty Holy Grenade + Magic Starfish = Holy Grenade
Empty Grenade + [UNIQUE] Essense = [UNIQUE ESSENSE] Grenade
Empty Perfume Bottle + Pixie Dust = Love Grenade
Sheers + Sheep (pat pal) = Wool
Wool + Wool = Rope
Rope + Rope = Fuse

GEAR:
Sinew + Sinew = Bowstring
Branch + Bowstring = Bow
Branch + Iron Bar = Crossbow    Without String
Crossbow    Without String + Bowstring = Crossbow
Branch + Nine Inch Nails = Nail Fortified Branch (Mace)
Anvil + Any Knife = Dagger
Anvil + Large Iron Bar = Two-Handed Sword
Fiery Heart + Bottle of Swirling Mud = Sword Of Planets
Old Sabre + Buffalo Amulet = Buffalo Sabre
Weresheep Wool + Elemental Forge = Weresheep Armor
Weapon + Joshua Spice = Fire Damage (more so than Fire Essence)
Weapon + [UNIQUE ESSENSE] = Weapon with added [UNIQUE ESSENSE] damage
Weapon + Grindstone = Enhanced Damage
Armor + [SIMILIAR] Scraps = Enhanced Defense
Armor + Ruby = All Resist to Armor
Armor + [UNIQUE ESSENSE] = Added [UNIQUE ESSENSE] Resistance
Boot + Nine Inch Nails = Immune to Slipping
Mysterious Fabric Dye + Clothe Scraps = Trethon's Old Robes
Mace + Moonstone = Enhanced Damage
Bow/Crossbow + Bowsting = Enhanced Damage
Bow/Crossbow + Scope = +Per/Dex
Weapon + Tormented Soul = +Str/Dex
Sharp Magical Tooth + Rope = +1 Charisma Belt
Sharp Magical Tooth + Thread = +1 Charisma Necklace
Sharp Magical Tooth + Ringkit = +1 Charisma Ring

​Money

1. Library in Cyseal (upstairs Mayor's house) pick up the two books Cyseal the Play and Cracking up the Audience, go to the stage area (to the south of the Mayor's house) and perform 

2. Stealing everything in sight. Use "walk-in-shadows" (which should be on at least one of your two source hunters AT creation) and steal everything. Crafting items and any dagger/knife (even golden) don't sell, everything else is free to sell. 

3. Crafting swords and axes is your first real money crafting option and both sell for the same- so don't combine two irons to make a steel bar because you will be cutting your profit in half! Craft yourself all the swords and axes you can every level but only sell the axes and swords which have spawned with the +1 ap extra feature (they will have a value 3-4x what the others have) , all the rest turn back into iron/steel again.

Buying 

1. All fish, meat, potatoes, cheese, apples, and wheat. Fish/Meat + Cooking = Dinner (15% heal +1 Str), Potatoes + Cooking = Boiled Potatoe (10% Heal +1 Con), Wheat + Mortel and Ped = Flour, Water Barrel + Cup = Cup of Water, Cup of Water + Flour = Dough, Dough + Apple/Cheese + Cooking = Cheese Bread/ Apple Pie (10% Heal, +1 Con, Poison Resist). Don't waste healing potions levels 1-7, save them for later (to craft large healing potions) and use food instead. These items only have positives which means that with Five-Star you won't have to worry about a -2 that certain foods will give!

2. All flowers, mushrooms, plants, etc. These will cost nothing and all have uses, most are simply +Empty Vial, but some will help you create items such as "Charming Arrows". Buy them all. 

3. Most crafting gear you will end up buying (everything from empty vials to rope to arrows heads to ore to nails to essense to empty grenades) and it won't cost you anything- feathers (you will only need 2x feathers per Dex based unit), wooden dolls + needles (only need a half a dozen or so of these), chicken feet (won't need any of these), horns (won't need any of these), claws (would only need four of these, max) and starfish (only need around a half dozen of these to make healing grenades and a leadership helm, after that they are worthless) are the only ones you can ignore and not buy. 

4. you will need two ring kits per person (so a party of four would need 8) + 2 ASAP (the cost of the ring kit doesn't matter as the more expensive ring kits still produce the same item) so that would be a max of 10 ring kits.

5. Pickaxes. A lot of people sell these and they are cheap enough to make the transition from pickaxe to steel bar to axe to make it worth it. 

6. Tormented Souls. Yes these would also appear in #3 but are so important that they get they own number. Buy every single tormented soul at all costs. 

7. Novice skill books. You won't have the money to buy adept so don't bother with them yet. 

8. You will need a pair of "immune to slow" shoes for each party member (4 max), the stats on the boots are irrelevant. Make sure you have four pairs at all costs, and then put them in a backpack (if you happen to have another pair of boots that is better)

9. Two to three pieces of +1 lockpicking gear if you have not found any yet. 

10. Pixie Dust from weaver of time. She always has some, pick them up.

Gear

1. Pixie Dust + Claw/Skull/Feather = Magical Claw/Skull/Feather, Magical Skull + Ring Kit = Skull Ring (+1 Con), Magical Feather/Magical Claw + Rope/Thread = Claw/Feather Belt/Necklace (+1 Str/ Dex). Put the rings on everyone as well as the necklaces and belts (Dex on Dex based units and Str on Str based units). 

2. Pixie Dust + Tooth = Magical Tooth, Magical Tooth + Ring Kit/Rope/Thread = Tooth Ring/Belt/Necklace (+1 Charisma). With this gear you will have +4 Charisma to put on your Ranger whenever a R.P.S. game comes up. It is also needed (5 Charisma) with Petpal to optimize XP and ability to fulfill all quests in game. 

3. Orc Gear burried on southwest beach will clearly be some of the best gear out there levels 1-7 and can be grabbed fight free as early as lv 2. Go get it. 

4. Pixie Dust + Starfish/Antlers/Eye = Magical Starfish/Antlers/Eye, Magical Starfish/Antlers/Eye + Leather Helm = Starfish/Antler Helm (+1 Leadership, +1 Con, +1 Per). These are great early helms to make until you find upgrades. Madora should always have a +1 Leadership helm on.

5. Gear should all prioritize +1 primary stats.

6. +1 Loremaster/Blacksmithing/Crafting/Tenbrium should also go to your mule, optimize the mule as best you can so that you have to spend the least amount of ability points as possible. Ie. Two rings with +1 Loremaster, Belt + Gloves with +1 Blacksmith +1 Crafting, misc. Item +1 Tenebrium = you only need 3 points into Loremaster/Blacksmithing/Crafting and might not need to add any points into tenebrium. 

7. Keep tools on appropriate people; ie. a repair hammer in Jahan's inventory to repair on the fly (if you HAVE to), an identify glass on your mule, pickaxe/shovel, etc. 

Cyseal: Opened up lv 2 by defeating orcs on beach or by sneaking past them and picking the lock on the city gate

Silverglen: Opened up lv 2 with Walk-in-Shadows and running north across the bridge passed the burning legion or lv 8+ by combat following the same path

Hiberheim: Opened up lv 10+ by entering the White Witches cabin in Luculla Forest and travelling into the magical lake (combat required at some point) or lv 2 by talking to Wishing Well in Cyseal and having him teleport you there (in EE you will not be able to get far without some trickery however)

Goblin Village: Opened up with Charisma 5 + Petpal, very sneaky Walk-in-Shadows, or lv 14+ combat- from the Silverglen waypoint head west and then north to run into some immaculate’s (you will have to pass a RPS mini game or combat, thus 5 Charisma is useful, you could always fight them after if you desire) from there you will cast Walk-in-Shadows and run north east in the middle path, if you are fast enough you can make it past the Spider Queen, if not you will need a Charisma 5 and Pet Pal (choose “charm”) to get past her without a fight. The goblin village is to the south east of the Spider Queen, you will need to pass another RPS to enter the village.   

Sacred Stone: Opened up with Immaculate Amulet (lv 7 fight with Evelyn or Pickpocket 5 on Thelyron are you earliest bets). To get there you will need a 5 lock picking (to pick the trap door in the church in Silverglen) or a 5 in pickpocket (to pick the key from Loic standing in front of the trap door) or by combat lv 14+ with Loic to take the key by force. Once you unlock the hatch in the church in Silverglenn use the portal found under the church to teleport north of Silverglen- from there simply head north to hit Sacred Stone. You will need that Immaculate Amulet to enter.

Hunter’s Edge: You will need to be able to get to Sacred Stone (directly south east of the Sacred Stone waypoint) or the Goblin Village (directly east of the waypoint) to be able to travel east enough to travel to Hunter’s Edge, once there you will need to either use Walk-in-Shadows and RPS to enter the town or combat (lv 16+). If you haven’t dealt with the demons in Luculla Forest (north of the spider queen) when you enter Hunter’s Edge the event will trigger and you will have to deal with those demon’s giant blood stone with a tenebrium weapon. 

1. RED
The Luculla Mines

2. BLUE
Trial of the Immaculates
Spider Queen
Maridino's Lair
Troll King

3. WHITE
Immaculate Temple